A MAJOR high street beauty chain will close its remaining stores this weekend after it tumbled into administration.
Bodycare used to operate 115 stores but it was forced to appoint administrators from Interpath Advisory earlier this month.
Bodycare has shut dozens of shops after tumbling into administration[/caption]
Shoppers have stripped shelves after the chain launched huge closing down sales[/caption]
Administrators said it was no longer viable to keep the remaining stores open[/caption]
Exactly 32 stores closed with immediate effect, making around 450 employees redundant.
Meanwhile, 30 stores closed a week later – leaving just 56 stores still open.
But administrators have now confirmed that it is no longer viable to keep the chain’s remaining stores open.
Despite interest in the brand, administrators were unable to secure a buyer.
Meanwhile, a shortage of stock and high operating costs have made continuing to trade impossible.
All the remaining stores will close by today.
Savvy shoppers have raced to clear the shelves in Bodycare’s remaining stores after the chain launched huge closing down sales.
The chain has offered up to 50% off items in store as it tries to shift its remaining stock.
The news will affect 444 staff, who will also be made redundant.
Administrators have said they will support employees with claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.
Nick Holloway, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator, said: “We understand this has been a difficult period and so we want to further express our sincere thanks to Bodycare’s staff who, since day one of the administration, have maintained the strong standards of presentation and customer service that Bodycare was renowned for.”
He added: “We will continue to explore options for the company’s assets, including the Bodycare brand, and will provide further updates in due course.”
What happened to Bodycare?
Bodycare began as a market stall in Lancashire in the 1970s but gradually expanded to become a business with more than 100 stores nationwide.
At its prime, the chain sold top brands including L’Oreal and Nivea.
When are the remaining stores closing?
The following stores will close by today:
- Ashton-Under-Lyne
- Banbury
- Barnsley
- Barrow
- Bedford
- Blackburn
- Blackpool
- Braehead
- Bridgnorth
- Burnley
- Bury
- Chorley
- Clitheroe
- Darlington
- Derby
- Dundee
- Halifax
- Hereford
- Hinckley
- Irvine
- Keighley
- Kendal
- Kings Heath
- Lancaster
- Leeds
- Leicester
- Leigh
- Liverpool
- Livingston
- Luton
- Manchester
- Merry Hill
- Metro Centre
- Middlesborough
- Mold Washington
- Newcastle
- Nuneaton
- Oldham
- Pontefract
- Poulton
- Preston
- Rugby
- Sheffield
- Solihull
- Sunderland
- Sutton Coldfield
- Swindon
- Telford
- Thurrock
- Trowbridge
- Wakefield
- Walthamstow
- Warrington
- Wellingborough
- Wolverhampton
The following stores have already closed:
- Bolton, Greater Manchester
- Bromsgrove, Worcestershire
- Castleford, West Yorkshire
- Chesterfield, Derbyshire
- Doncaster, South Yorkshire
- Greenock, Scotland
- Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
- Salford, Greater Manchester
- Skipton, North Yorkshire
- Stevenage, Hertfordshire
- Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire
- Thornaby, North Yorkshire
- Ulverston, Cumbria
- Whitehaven, Cumbria
- Dudley, West Midlands
- Dunfermline, Scotland
- Hanley, Staffordshire
- Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
- Hyde, Greater Manchester
- Ilford, Greater London
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- Morpeth, Northumberland
- Newark, Nottinghamshire
- Northallerton, North Yorkshire
- Ormskirk, Lancashire
- Redcar, North Yorkshire
- Rochdale, Greater Manchester
- Shrewsbury, Shropshire
- St Helens, Merseyside
- Workington, Cumbria
- Beverley
- Cameron Toll
- Cannock
- Clydebank
- Cramlington
- Croydon
- Darwen
- Dumfries
- Edinburgh
- Erdington
- Falkirk
- Hemel Hempstead
- Kirkcaldy
- Loughborough
- Lytham St Annes
- Macclesfield
- Maidstone
- Morecambe
- Newport
- Northfield
- Paisley
- Parkhead
- Perth
- Port Talbot
- Rhyl
- Royton
- Scunthorpe
- Stourbridge
- Tamworth
- West Bromwich
- Wood Green
- Wrexham
But the chain had been struggling with financial troubles since the pandemic.
The company has spent months working with advisory firm Interpath and its owners, Baaj Capital, to secure a rescue plan.
Baaj Capital recently obtained a £7million loan against the company’s stock to buy time but efforts to stabilise the business were unsuccessful.
Trouble on the high street
Bodycare is not the only high street retailer to be struggling with rising costs and lower footfall.
Poundland has recently avoided going into administration by agreeing to a restructuring plan that will include shutting stores and axing jobs.
The chain will close a total of 68 stores and agree rent cuts at up to 180 stores.
It has also ceased to offer frozen food and has stopped offering online shopping.
The chain will also close its Darton frozen food distribution centre later this year.
Meanwhile, the Bilston national distribution centre will also close in early 2026.
Last week the chain also axed its loyalty scheme, Poundland Perks.
What are my rights if I’m made redundant?
YOU are entitled to statutory redundancy pay if you have worked for your employer for two years or more.
The statutory rate is based on your age, weekly pay and number of years in the job.
You will get:
- Half a week’s pay for each full year you worked aged under 22
- One week’s pay for each full year you worked aged 22 or older, but under 41
- One and half week’s pay for each full year you worked while aged 41 or older.
You cannot be paid less than the statutory amount.
If you were made redundant on or after April 6 2025, your weekly pay is capped at £719 and the maximum statutory redundancy pay you can get is £21,570.
The government has a calculator on its website to help you work out how much you are owed.
You may get more than this statutory amount if your employer has a redundancy scheme.
Customers who signed up to the rewards app have until January 15, 2026, to use their vouchers.
Poundland plans to shift its focus towards womenswear and season items and expand its £1 product range.
Meanwhile, River Island is set to shut 35 stores after a major restructure.
The news comes after the High Court approved a major restructuring plan for the business.
The company has warned that without restructuring, it could not keep going and would tumble into administration.
The chain has also been negotiating with landlords to try and secure rent reductions at more stores to prevent further closures.
The chain currently has more than 250 stores nationwide and employs around 5,500 people.
The plans mean more than 140 stores and thousands of jobs are likely to be saved.
But 110 head office jobs were axed in August after 100 staff members were made redundant in January.
Fashion chain New Look has also been forced to close dozens of shops in the UK this year and has shut all its stores in Ireland.
Meanwhile, Claire’s also collapsed into administration last month and stopped taking online orders.
Plus, H&M-owned fashion chain Monki closed the last of its high street stores in August.
Retail pain in 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
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